Eductor truck

ABSTRACT

An eductor truck having a frame with a settling tank pivotally mounted thereon. The settling tank having an eductor unit and a valve for the eductor mounted on the tank. The valve has an arm which can be used manually or by use of a hydraulic unit to operate the valve. A storage unit is mounted on the frame adjacent the settling tank. Pivoting means and door latching means are also provided.

DESCRIPTION

The present invention is directed to a flush tank eductor truck and moreparticularly to a flush tank eductor truck which is adapted to siphondebris, etc., from catch basins, to store the debris within its settlingtank and to thereafter dump the debris into a suitable dump area.

Eductor trucks are used to siphon debris which may be mixed with afluid, such as water, from sewers, catch basins, etc. and to deposit themixture of fluid and debris into a suitable settling tank, preferablymounted on the truck which is then transported to a suitable dump anddisposed of.

In cases where the debris is substantially dry, the eduction unitdeposits a fluid into the sewer or catch basin in order to loosen thedebris and to mix it with the fluid so that it will be easilysiphoned-off by the eduction unit. The mixture is deposited in thesettling tank where the heavier debris falls to the floor. The fluidwith the lighter debris in suspension passes through a series of bafflesand/or strainers so that the lighter debris is removed from the fluid.The fluid (which is now relatively free of debris) is re-deposited intothe catch basin and re-used to loosen and mix with additional debris.

In such eductor trucks, there has been a scarcity of space for tools,equipment, hoses and other materials necessary for effective operation.In addition, it has been difficult to insure that the settling tankremains suspended when it is raised during maintainance. Furthermore, ithas been awkward for the eduction unit to be operated by the operatorwithout climbing up to the top of the truck. In addition, the means foropening the settling tank to permit dumping has been difficult andawkward.

The present invention avoids these difficulties and has for one of itsobjects the provision of an improved eductor truck which has means tohold the rear door closed until it is to be opened.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedeductor truck which has means to permit storage of tools, etc. withoutinterfering with the operation of the settling tank.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedeductor truck which has improved safety features for holding the setlingtank in its raised position during maintainance operation.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedeductor truck which has improved means for automatically operating theeductor unit.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawingsforming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a truck having an eduction unitembodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the truck with the settling tank ina raised position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective fragmentary view of the interior of the settlingtank;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the rear door latch-rlease mechanism; and

FIG. 6 is a top view thereof.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, a truck 1,usually called an eductor truck because it include an eduction unit 4,comprises a settling tank 2, a front cab 3 and rear frame 9. The truck 1is provided with the usual eduction mechanism, generally designed by thereference numberal 4. The eduction mechanism 4 comprises a suction pipe5 having a nozzle 7 mounted on its lower end which is adapted to siphona fluid, such as water, from a catch basin 6. The hose 5 is adapted toremove the mixture of debris and fluid from the catch basin 6 and todeposit it into the settling tank 2 through a discharge pipe 9 (FIG. 3).A smaller spray hose 18 is provided to permit the user to loosen debrisin the basin 6.

The settling tank 2 is also provided with one or more interior baffleplates 11. Each baffle plate 11 (FIGS. 3 and 4) is mounted to swing on apivot 8 and has one or more openings 10 therein. With this structure theheavier debris will fall to the bottom of settling tank 2 and thelighter debris in suspension will be carried by the fluid through theopenings 10. The openings 10 may be staggered and may be adjusted byslidable doors (not shown) to regulate the flow of the fluidtherethrough.

A strainer unit 12 is provided on a forward baffle 11 to remove thelighter debris from the fluid before the fluid is passed through pump 13to the pressure pipe 5 to be re-used.

With this structure the mixture of debris and fluid is deposited at therear of the settling tank 2 and passes forwardly through baffles 11 andstrainer 12. The heavy debris drops to the bottom of the tank 2 and thelighter debris in suspension passes through the openings 10 in baffles11 and the openings in the strainer 12. The strainer 12 will filter thefiner debris from the fluid and permit the fluid to pass through.

When the settling tank 2 is to be cleaned out, the tank 2 is pivoted andlifted upwardly around pivot 13 by a hydraulic cylinder 14 locatedtherebeneath. The rear door 14 swings open around upper pivot 15 and thebaffles 11 swing open on pivots 8 to permit the debris to be cleanedout.

As shown in the drawings, the settling tank 2 is positioned between apair of storage cabinet unit 20 located on each side thereof. Thecabinet units 20 may have suitable doors 21 to permit access thereto topermit tools, extra hoses and other equipment to be stored in thecabinets 20. Since the settling tank 2 is positioned between the twocabinet units 20, the operation and lifting of the tank 2 will not beinterferred with. The top of the storage cabinets 20 may have a walkway22 which will permit the operator to climb up to the top of the settlingtank, if necessary.

An eductor unit control valve 25 (FIG. 3) is positioned near the rearend of the top of the settling tank to control operation of the eductorunit. This valve 25 is controlled by a hydraulic cylinder 26 mountedalong the side of the settling tank 2 with its control arm 27 attachedto the piston of cylinder 26. The hydraulic cylinder 26 is controlled byany known remote means (not shown) by the operator of the truck. Hence,the operation of the eduction unit is operated remotely without thenecessity of the operator climbing to the top of the settling tank 2 tooperate the valve 25.

When the settling tank 2 is raised, especially for maintainancepurposes, a safety holding arm mechanism 30 is used to insure that thetank 2 will not drop should there be a failure in the hydraulic device14. This safety arm 30 comprises an outer lower tube 31 pivotallymounted to the frame 9 at 37. An extendable rod 32 is telescopicallymounted within the tube 31 and is provided with a holding fork 34 at itsupper end. A series of openings 33 are provided in the arm 32 and anopening 38 is provided in tube 34 so that a pin 35 (FIG. 2) may beinserted through opening 38 into a selected opening 33 to hold the armin its raised position. After the fork 34 is inserted beneath an edge 36of the settling tank 2 it is held in place by pin 35 extending throughopenings 38 and 33 to support the tank in its upright position.

In order to open the rear door 14 of the tank 2, a plurality offastening devices 40 in the form of lag screws are mounted on swingablepivots 41 are provided around the door 14. Before tank 2 is tiltedupwardly, these fastening devices 40 are loosened by the operator andswung away from the door around the pivots 41 to release the door 14.

However, to prevent the rear door 14 for opening until the tank is inits fully upwardly tilted position, a safety latch mechanism 47 (FIGS. 5and 6) is provided beneath the rear door 14. This latch mechanism 45comprises latch arms 46 which extend through rear frame element 9 tohold the rear door 14 in place. The latch arms 46 are connected to acontrol unit operated by an hydraulic cylinder 47 through linkage system48. Under normal conditions the latch arms 46 are in their forwardposition to hold the door 14 tightly closed. After the fastening devices40 have been loosened and the settling tank 2 has been lifted, thehydraulic motor 47 is activated to move the latch arms 46 away from thedoor 14 thereby permitting the door 14 to swing open around pivot 15.Hence, the rear door 14 will remain tightly closed until after thesettling tank is lifted.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improvedeductor truck which has means for preventing the rear door from swingingopen and means to hold the rear door closed until it is to be opened aswell as means to permit storage to tools, etc. without interfering withthe lifting operation and is provided with safety features for holdingthe truck in its raised position as well as improved means for remotelyoperating the eduction units.

As many and varied modifications of the subject matter of this inventionwill become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detaileddescription given hereinabove, it will be understood that the presentinvention is limited only as provided in the claims appended hereto.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orpriviliege is claimed are devined as follows:
 1. An eductor truckcomprising a frame, a settling tank pivotally mounted on said frame,said settling tank having an eductor unit thereon, a control valvemounted on said settling tank for operating said eductor unit, saidcontrol valve being operable from a point remote from its position onthe settling tank, said control valve having a control arm extendingtherefrom, said control arm being located outside of said eductor unitwhereby it is accessible for optional manual operation, a hydraulicmotor mounted adjacent the settling tank to operate the control valve,said hydraulic motor having a piston which is operatively connected tothe control arm of said control valve, said hydraulic motor beingremotely controlled, whereby remote operation of said hydraulic motorwill operate said control valve through said control arm.
 2. An eductortruck comprising a frame, a settling tank pivotally mounted on saidframe, said settling tank having an eductor unit thereon, storage unitmeans mounted on said frame adjacent to said settling tank, means forlifting said settling tank relative to said frame and said storage meanswhereby the storage means will not interfere with said liftingoperation, a walkway located above said storage unit means, said storageunit means is mounted on each side of said settling tank, a controlvalve mounted on said settling tank for operating said eductor unit,said control valve being operable from a point remote from its positionon the settling tank, said control valve having a control arm extendingtherefrom, said control arm being located outside of said eductor unitwhereby it is accessible for optional manual operation, a hydraulicmotor mounted adjacent the settling tank to operate the control valve,said hydraulic motor having a piston which is operatively connected tothe control arm of said control valve, the hydraulic motor beingremotely controlled, whereby remote operation of said hydraulic motorwill operate said control valve through said control arm, said settlingtank having a rear door which is pivotally mounted to open, holdingdevices mounted around the door to hold the door closed and releasablelatch means being provided to prevent the door from being opened afterthe holding devices are removed, said latch means comprising a latch armmovable from a position against the door to hold the door closed to aposition away from the door to allow the door to swing open, said latcharm being hydraulically operated by a hydraulic motor from a positionbeneath the settling tank.